Guwahati, May 7: Following the declaration of the 2026 Assembly elections results earlier this week, focus has now shifted to the formation of the new State government.
Notwithstanding the BJP securing an absolute majority of its own in the Assam Legislative Assembly this time, highly placed sources in the saffron party said the existing arrangement will continue and the next government will also be a coalition with the junior NDA partners, AGP and BPF, having their own representatives in it.
Both the regional parties are likely to be allocated two Cabinet berths each, they added.
The NDA retained power in the recent polls by winning 102 out of the total 126 seats in the Assam Assembly polls. The BJP's tally jumped to 82, its highest ever in the State, while the AGP and the BPF won 10 seats each.
In 2016, when the NDA first came to power in Dispur, the alliance had won 86 seats, including 60 by the BJP, 14 by the AGP and 12 by the BPF. In 2021, the ruling bloc's numbers came down to 75.
The BJP got 60 seats, the AGP won nine and the UPPL (which was part of the NDA at the time) secured six. The BJP's strength in the Assembly later increased to 64 on account of defections from the Opposition camp and victory in bye-elections.
This time, the BJP has secured a majority of its own in the polls. "Our party has always adhered to 'coalition dharma' and will continue to do so. For us, our allies are not merely electoral partners.
They are valuable members of our extended family. Despite our numbers going up to 64 in the last Assembly, we did not forsake our allies. And this is true not only for Assam but across India," said a senior State BJP office-bearer.
The maximum size of the ministry in Assam can be 19, including the Chief Minister. "While the composition of the ministry is the discretion of the Chief Minister, both the AGP and the BPF are likely to be offered two berths each based on their strength in the Assembly, and the remaining positions will be filled from the BJP's quota.
At the same time, the Chief Minister, in consultation with our party's central leadership, may decide to keep the size of the ministry small for the time being and later expand it by including more members. That was the case in both 2016 and 2021," said the leader.
In 2016, the then Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal had initially accommodated two ministers each from the AGP (Atul Bora and Keshab Mahanta) and the BPF (Pramila Rani Brahma and Rihon Daimary).
Later, in 2018, an additional representative each from both alliance partners (Phani Bhusan Choudhury of AGP and Chandan Brahma of BPF) were inducted during expansion of the ministry. In the outgoing ministry headed by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, two members of the AGP (Atul Bora and Keshab Mahanta) and one from the UPPL (UG Brahma) serves in the State Cabinet.
"The decision about who will be inducted in the next Cabinet from the AGP and the BPF will be decided by the respective leadership of the two parties," said another senior BJP leader.
The swearing in ceremony of the new government will be preceded by separate meetings of the Legislature Parties of all the three NDA constituents to select their respective leaders in the Assembly as well as a joint meeting of the NDA Legislature Party.
(The views, opinions, and claims in this article are solely those of the author's and do not represent the editorial stance of The Assam Tribune)